Uganda

Collins to lead tech deployment A team of UC Berkeley undergraduates has won a grant from the One Laptop Per Child Association to distribute laptops to children in Uganda during summer 2009. Marie Collins , a 2007 LCHS graduate and sophomore political economy major, will lead the UC Berkeley One Laptop Per Child deployment of 100 laptops to Buwaiswa, a small village in the Kamuli district of eastern Uganda, this June. The proposal was one of 30 selected from over 220 submissions from students around the world for the OLPCorps Africa program.

A man who has spent the past two years in Africa will share his experiences at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in La Cañada Flintridge on Sunday. Elder Jeff Facer was teaching and helping people in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Ethiopia as part of a mission for the church. The public event will begin at 1 p.m. in the chapel of the church. The church is located at 1830 Foothill Blvd. -- Tiffany Kelly, tiffany.kelly@latimes.com Follow on Google+ and on Twitter: @LATiffanyKelly .

Among the 14 local students who participated Sunday in La Cañada Unified School District's TEDx event, where students shared their hopes, dreams and ideas with the community, one speaker caught the attention of the audience - 10-year-old Ray Wipfli. The Paradise Canyon Elementary School fifth-grader explained in his talk, "The Game of Life," how a recent trip to Africa helped him realize the power that global sports, like soccer, have to unite people from different backgrounds and cultures.

Last Saturday a carnival was held at Crescenta Valley High School. Although there were many games of chance, great music and entertainment and delicious food the foundation of the event was far from fun. The carnival was to bring attention to the plight of children in Uganda as well as to raise funds to assist them. In late March, CVHS students viewed a documentary titled "Invisible Children." As the film began, three teenagers set off on a trip to Africa not knowing what to expect.

St. Luke's of the Mountains Anglican Church will welcome its Bishop, the Right Reverend Evans M. Kisekka of the Diocese of Luweero (Province of Uganda), to the 8 and 10:30 a.m. services on Sunday, June 25, when the bishop will preach, celebrate and administer the Sacrament of Confirmation. St. Luke's invites the community to attend this time of special blessing. St. Luke's ongoing ministry work in Uganda includes the following: Numerous St. Luke's parishioners have served as missionaries in Uganda, and the church has supported other missionaries in Uganda.

La Crescenta Presbyterian Church will host a screening of "Invisible Children," a documentary profiling the children of Northern Uganda, on Wednesday, Aug. 2 at 7 p.m. The film, made in 2003 by three Southern California filmmakers, tells the story of children who commute on foot every night to find safe places to sleep in their town centers in order to avoid being abducted and forced to fight as child soldiers. The 55-minute film will be introduced by Christina Jordan of Lake Elsinore, who has been living in Uganda for the past eight years.

A La Cañada youth was among16 high school and college students from throughout L.A. County honored for donating a combined total of 9,000 volunteer hours during the last two years and receiving community service scholarships at the Kaiser Permanente Watts Counseling and Leaming Center on Friday. Among the recipients was Michael Caswell of La Cañada who will attend Stanford University in the fall. He clocked in more than 500 hours as the founder of a non-profit organization that donates used soccer equipment to children in Armenia, Uganda and Nicaragua.

Donations will be accepted for charitable causes around the corner and around the world at La Cañada Presbyterian Church’s annual Christmas Market on Dec. 7 and Dec. 14 in the church patio. The community is invited to participate in this life-saving and world-changing endeavor. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in meaningful gift-giving, perhaps arranging for a “hugging Christian granny” to cuddle neglected babies in a Chinese orphanage, purchasing anti-malarial bed nets for children in Uganda, or aiding at-risk teens and homeless families in Pasadena.

La Cañada Unified School District's Measure LC parcel tax has officially passed , garnering 68.12% of the vote, according to certified results released Friday by the office of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The official election canvass period, beginning March 6 and ending Friday, verified and tallied all 5,621 ballots received. About 43% of all eligible registered voters participated in the election, the agency reported. Parcel owners will now pay an annual $450 per parcel for a seven-year period, raising as much as $2.7 million for LCUSD schools.

The Glendale News-Press reported on Friday that Glendale City Seventh-Day Adventist Church was one of 17 churches across the country to commemorate the day of prayer to the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. A bill being considered in that country would sentence LGBT people to life in prison for “engaging in homosexual acts, which are already illegal,” the News-Press reported. Penalties would also be imposed against companies that promote gay rights.

Among the 14 local students who participated Sunday in La Cañada Unified School District's TEDx event, where students shared their hopes, dreams and ideas with the community, one speaker caught the attention of the audience - 10-year-old Ray Wipfli. The Paradise Canyon Elementary School fifth-grader explained in his talk, "The Game of Life," how a recent trip to Africa helped him realize the power that global sports, like soccer, have to unite people from different backgrounds and cultures.

A man who has spent the past two years in Africa will share his experiences at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in La Cañada Flintridge on Sunday. Elder Jeff Facer was teaching and helping people in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan and Ethiopia as part of a mission for the church. The public event will begin at 1 p.m. in the chapel of the church. The church is located at 1830 Foothill Blvd. -- Tiffany Kelly, tiffany.kelly@latimes.com Follow on Google+ and on Twitter: @LATiffanyKelly .

Collins to lead tech deployment A team of UC Berkeley undergraduates has won a grant from the One Laptop Per Child Association to distribute laptops to children in Uganda during summer 2009. Marie Collins , a 2007 LCHS graduate and sophomore political economy major, will lead the UC Berkeley One Laptop Per Child deployment of 100 laptops to Buwaiswa, a small village in the Kamuli district of eastern Uganda, this June. The proposal was one of 30 selected from over 220 submissions from students around the world for the OLPCorps Africa program.

Last Saturday a carnival was held at Crescenta Valley High School. Although there were many games of chance, great music and entertainment and delicious food the foundation of the event was far from fun. The carnival was to bring attention to the plight of children in Uganda as well as to raise funds to assist them. In late March, CVHS students viewed a documentary titled "Invisible Children." As the film began, three teenagers set off on a trip to Africa not knowing what to expect.